


Tear-stained

by sshysmm



Category: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It, Gen, Kid Fic, Mother-Son Relationship, Temper Tantrums, the band Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2021-01-26 21:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21381229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sshysmm/pseuds/sshysmm
Summary: After the evens of Band AU Pawn in Frankincense, Oonagh is very much looking forward to going home. Her son has had a strange upbringing so far, but she's determined to help him forget Gabriel.--Written for Whumptober 2019, set in the Band AU I've been writing (see collections).--There's 31 of these ficlets and I apologise profusely for burying other work in the tags. I will *always* tag these as 'the band au' and you can usethis nifty extension (ao3rdr)to block the tag if this isn't your thing and isn't what you want to see in the Lymond tags!
Kudos: 2
Collections: Ficlets in the Lymond Band AU for Whumptober 2019





	Tear-stained

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted on tumblr, 14 October 2019.](https://notasapleasure.tumblr.com/post/188340121181/whumptober-14)

The child's tear-stained face went crimson as he screamed. He bunched his small fists into the hem of Oonagh's skirt and wailed and snorted and hiccup p ed his displeasure. In the sunny lobby of the airport, Oonagh O'Dwyer sighed and tightened her belt so that Khaireddin's tantrum could not bring the fabric down over her hips. She ruffled a hand through his blonde curls and ignored the stares of other travellers with the same resolute determination she had employed throughout her career on the public stage of the catwalk.

She looked around her and still marvelled to see people wearing a multitude of colours. The drabness made her dizzy as she examined browns and creams, moss green and faded denim, beiges and greys, and all in tidy, fitted shapes. Where her eye fell on red or pink she still shuddered, but could not describe the feeling of relief that her own tidy new clothes brought. No more kaftans. No more harem pants and flowing robes. Oonagh wanted the tights and tweed and body-hugging cashmere of home.

Across the tiles stepped a woman in four-inch stilettos and an immaculate business suit. And Oonagh, understanding the intricacies of these things, observed the bespoke tailoring and fine fabric that distinguished her outfit from that of the flight attendants dotted through the building. Kiaya Güzel brandished a fat paper wallet and flashed an impeccable white smile before pausing several feet away.

"What's wrong with him?" she flicked the packet of plane tickets in Khaireddin's direction. 

Oonagh rolled her eyes and swayed as Khaireddin's tantrum swelled in volume. "I told him he couldn't ride on one of those airport buggies," she explained.

Güzel looked nonplussed. "Why not? I can arrange it..."

"No!" Oonagh growled, wrestling Khaireddin's arms as he tried to beat her thigh with his balled hands. "For God's sake don't you dare!" she looked up at Güzel so that she knew Oonagh was referring to her offer as well as the child.

"He's been spoiled plenty already," she added sternly.

If it struck Güzel as a strange thing to say about a child raised by a cult and largely left to his own whims and devices for the last 10 months of his life, she did not say so. As the toddler continued to display his seemingly endless capacity for sound, Güzel finally gave in to her impatience and let out an awkward huff of breath, glancing around the airport in hope of relief. Philippa and Archie and the other child should have been here too...

Oonagh had no such luxury of distraction . She crouched down to look her son in the eye, and tried to turn his flailing into a dance.

It had no effect on his rage.

"Gabriel!" he whined through tears and snot.

She tried not to snap her response: "he isn't coming with us." Every time Khaireddin asked for that man her blood ran cold. She had to consciously remember not to tighten her grip on his wrists and to breathe before she tried to say anything else. "No more Gabriel."

Khaireddin flung his head back and shrieked. "WHY?"

Oonagh grimaced. Because he's a narcissistic psychopath who kept you and me in his cult against our will. Because he has drugged the vulnerable and lied to them and stolen and threatened and hurt many good people. Because, at long last, we are free of him.

Because, as is becoming increasingly evident, he never once introduced you to the word 'no'.

She waited until he looked at her again. "Because Gabriel doesn't want to come. Gabriel thinks planes are boring."

Careful to toss her dark hair over her shoulder and out of the way of sticky hands and a wet face, Oonagh managed to scoop the toddler up and walk over to the floor to ceiling windows. "Do you see the planes, Cai?"

His small body heaved under the forces of unspent emotion and exhausted energy. He leant his face against her cheek, and Oonagh did not flinch at the cold, wet feeling. She was warm with fury, thinking of all the damage Graham Reid Malett had tried to do. But in the past years she had discovered that her strength was not as brittle as she had once thought, and she remained a proud, stubborn woman. She was confident that she could undo Gabriel's influence, given the time with her child to do so.


End file.
